Tangled Webs
by Lady Daendre
Summary: an AU fic with Peter moving to my hometown to create an interesting alternate reality...let's just say it's not realistic at all! Chapter 4 (the girl next-door) is up!!
1. i: explosions and a much-needed sleep

Title: Tangled Webs  
  
Author: Sparkling Diamond Satine  
  
Summary: One of my more dramatic stories. Sorry, no MJ/Peter romance because I needed a different love interest. Peter Parker moves to the beautiful Long Island after getting kicked out of his old school. He faces a new breed of enemies, in school and out of school. Plus, when his interests are very similar to a girl who he sees getting picked on, he quickly befriends her, and they become instant companions. Peter begins to discover his abilities shortly after he moves, as he was bitten by the spider the day before getting kicked out. That's all you need to know for now, please read on to find out what happens! (There will be less on the side of super villains as there is very little chance many villains would be in Long Island in the first place…haha I love dissing my home town!)  
  
Disclaimer: I hope you know that I don't own Spider-Man by now, because I don't feel like saying it again! * sniffle * yes, Spider-Man is not mine!!! All right??? Now excuse me while I go cry because those darned ropes couldn't hold him!  
  
Warning: This is not supposed to be realistic and I understand that this probably would never happen, but I figured it'd add a touch of interesting- ness….  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 1~Explosions and a Much-Needed Sleep  
  
((This is an improvisation of the opening monologue from the trailer. I may change it since I'm seeing the movie again in about an hour and 20 minutes. But it's changed to fit the story))  
  
Peter narrating  
  
Who am I? You sure you wanna know? If someone told you I was your average, ordinary guy, not a care in the world, somebody lied. There used to be a time when I was able to just drift into the background and float along with everyone. That time has changed. This is the story of just how that happened. This is not an ordinary story, but it fits me since I'm not an ordinary person.  
  
~*~  
  
Manhattan with its bright lights and hustling and bustling streets were the ideal for Peter Parker. It let him hide from the ridicule of the "in- crowd" and he could just drift away with the rest of the loners. Plus, there was Mary Jane Watson, the love of his life since…well before he could remember. Should he lose the chance to blend in, yet at the same time wound the lovely redhead next-door, well Peter would be too confused to continue on with his life.  
  
"Peter, I need you to tutor Eugene Thompson after school," Mr. Vrickson said, popping the bubble that held him in the fictional world he usually zoned out into around his eighth period physics class. "He needs to make up a lab, and I figured you could do so since you are my best and brightest student."  
  
Peter nodded and got up after the bell rang. He had one more period before he had to worry about an entire hour…maybe even less if he played his cards right…in a room alone with Flash: Gym. Gym was the class that he hated most because of his lack of athletic talents. In fact, he can't remember a time he actually managed to climb a rope, run around the track, or shoot a basket.  
  
"Hey look, Parker's gonna try his shot at badminton!" Flash said, even though Peter was clearly holding a tennis racket. He looked at the racket and shrugged it off. He was thankful Harry Osbourne was in his class. Harry was Peter's best and only friend at school, and happened to have a very powerful and wealthy father. They befriended each other after Peter and Harry both found themselves getting picked on for completely different reasons. For Peter, it was his love of science, and for Harry, it was the fact that his father was wealthy. Everyone seemed to think that his father bought him anything and that he had the happiest lifestyle. This was completely untrue, because the only time Harry ever saw his father was when he talked business. Norman Osbourne was no father to Harry, just the head of Oscorp.  
  
"Hey, I heard you have to tutor Flash today," Harry said as soon as they got on the tennis courts. "Shall I stand by with a phone in hand in case he decides to send you to the emergency room?" he joked.  
  
Peter laughed at the joke and shook his head. "If Flash truly wants to pass, he'll lay off me. Somehow I don't see that as happening, but I'd like one day when I can confront him alone. At least he can't call me a coward," Peter pointed out.  
  
"Hey, didn't you say you were visiting your relatives on Long Island over the weekend?" Harry asked, serving the ball.  
  
"Yeah, Aunt May wants me to finally meet my cousins in Garden City," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "Why'd you ask?"  
  
"I have a copy of an interesting article in the New York Times from yesterday's newspaper," Harry said, unfolding the paper in his pocket. "Take a look at it," He said, handing it to him.  
  
"The Red Robin strikes again…you're trying to tell me that there's trouble in Garden City from this weird…super villain…thing?" Peter asked.  
  
"I'm just looking out for you, Pete, he robbed to banks and killed five people in the process," Harry said, sounding concerned. "I just don't want to see you or your Aunt May and Uncle Ben getting hurt, that's all."  
  
"Thanks for your concern, but we'll be fine. This thing robs banks anyway, right? Well, we'll stay away from banks," Peter said.  
  
"All right, can you guys do me a favor and bring in all the equipment?" the gym teacher asked. He barely lifted a finger during class and just made sure everyone worked.  
  
"Have you noticed that after all the years we've gone to this school, he always says 'can you do me a favor?'" Harry asked.  
  
Peter laughed at this remark. "Yeah, you're right! I wonder what it means…" Peter said, shuddering at the thought.  
  
Peter and Harry walked back inside the locker room, where they changed back into their regular clothes and started talking about the boring life in Manhattan. "Hey, I wonder what it would be like to live in Garden City instead…" Peter thought out loud.  
  
"Hey, we have that field trip to Columbia, don't we…?" Harry said, checking his planner. "Do you need a ride? I'm sure my dad'll give you one since he hates me taking the bus."  
  
"Nah, I'll catch the bus. I don't need to advertise the fact that Norman Osbourne is my best friend's dad," Peter said, grinning.  
  
"If only I didn't have him as my father…then maybe I'd actually have some peace and quiet in my life," Harry said.  
  
"But then we never would have become friends," Peter said. "And that would mean I would be all alone in the world and every person in the student body would have a grudge against me. You wouldn't want that, now, would you?"  
  
"Well…you got me there," Harry said, laughing. "Good luck with Flash, I'll meet you at the field trip," Harry said, walking off.  
  
Peter rolled his eyes and looked at his physics books. He really didn't feel like going through with this lab, and he just hoped that the chemistry stuff was put away, because he knew Flash would try something to get him in trouble. Flash seemed to be very good at that lately, considering he was blamed for two fights during lunch time and a stink bomb in the boys' bathroom over the past week.  
  
"All right, Flash, we've got one simple lab to do, let's just get it over with and pretend we never did this," Peter said, getting out the equipment. "You can copy my lab notes and I'll walk you through the lab and then you can do all the easy stuff."  
  
Flash looked at him and stood up straight so that he was his full height. "I don't think I'll be doing any of the lab today, Parker. In fact, I have a genuine idea that you'll be doing the entire thing for me," he said.  
  
Peter glared at Flash and shook his head. "Not this time, you're not. This is such a simple lab, and the questions are based simply on the experiment and discussion in class," he said.  
  
Flash pulled Peter up by his collar and looked straight into his eyes through the glasses. "I'll be waiting for you to finish."  
  
Peter gulped and began assembling the equipment himself. He glanced over to Flash and noticed that he was messing with some liquids left over from the chemistry lab. He just hoped there was nothing volatile there. In fact, he even wished Flash would just come and help him with the lab, as he couldn't concentrate while he was playing around with some potentially dangerous chemicals.  
  
He decided to ignore Flash and focus on the experiment at hand. The next sound he heard was "BANG!" He couldn't believe someone would leave out chemicals that, mixed in the right way, would explode and ruin most of the classroom.  
  
"Holy…" Flash said, looking around at what he had done. "Uh…good luck, Parker!" he said, flying out of the classroom at the greatest speed he could manage.  
  
Peter knew that if he fled, his teachers might think he was responsible for the explosion. He decided to try cleaning up what he could and accept the consequences. At least Flash would share in the punishments. When he met with the principal, though, he was not impressed with the results.  
  
"Peter Parker? Sit down. We reviewed the damages in the science lab and the accounts of both you and Mr. Thompson, we have decided upon two possible actions. We shall either fine both of you $2,000 or you shall be forced to do volunteer work to repair the classroom," he said. "And should either of you get in trouble again in the next three days, it will result in immediate expulsion."  
  
~*~  
  
Peter narrating  
  
The minute those words exited his mouth, I knew that I would get expelled. The thought of both Flash and I working together for the next five months wasn't the brightest idea, and should we get into a fight…well we may never see the school again. And should that happen, I would never get to see MJ ever again. But the next chain of events would top the explosion in the science lab for years to come.  
  
Peter arrived on time to the field trip. He almost didn't make the bus, as it never stops for him and he has to make a run for it. He wondered when the bus driver would realize that he existed. He wondered when anybody besides Harry would realize he existed.  
  
Peter got onto the bus and looked around for a place to sit. Not even the one guy sitting alone with a jelly pastry would let him sit next to him for two minutes. He smiled at Mary Jane, who was sitting with Flash. He was about to get to the only empty seat, when Flash decided now would be a good time to trip him.  
  
"Good job, Parker," he said, winking. "Always gettin' yourself into trouble."  
  
Peter rolled his eyes, and didn't even need to get into a seat, as by the time he got up, they had reached Columbia University. He brushed himself off and got off the bus, letting his eyes brush through the crowds in search for Harry, who would be arriving in his father's limo.  
  
While he was waiting for Harry, he followed everyone else to the group in front of the school. He wasn't listening to the discussion, as he knew most of the things mentioned. He noticed the cute little redhead smiling at him, and then she waved, so he smiled back, and waved, until he realized she was really waving at her friends.  
  
'Oh great…she doesn't even notice me,' Peter thought.  
  
Peter heard the limo pulling up and saw Harry step out. He smiled and walked over to him.  
  
"Hey, Harry, you're late," Peter said.  
  
"Yeah…I heard what happened with the chemistry lab, that was rough, man," Harry said.  
  
"Well…only the roughest for me," Peter said. "I don't get the lucky breaks like some people."  
  
"Harry, won't you be needing this?" Norman Osbourne asked.  
  
"Peter, this is my father, Norman Osbourne," Harry says, introducing his father to his best friend.  
  
Peter and Norman spoke about science, as they were both scientists and had heard about each other. Peter walked back to the university with Harry and listened to the discussion on spiders. Apparently, they weren't the only school there, as a school from Long Island was there. Garden City High School's physics class had their field trip to look at the genetically enhanced spiders the same day. Peter watched as they got off the bus and noticed one girl who seemed to be receiving insults and heckling a bit harsher than what he experienced every day. Peter sighed and started listening to Harry's complaints regarding private schools and how he wished that his father never sent him to get flunked out of each and every one of them.  
  
"Harry, please, I've heard you complain about this several days now, I don't need to hear it again," Peter said. "We should catch up, we're going to get in trouble…"  
  
"That's Parker for you…always worried about getting' into trouble," Harry said, mostly talking to himself than to anyone else.  
  
Peter gazed around the room, which seemed to be spinning around him. He never saw so many great inventions in one room before. "Hey, Harry, get a load of this! It's the biggest electron microscope ever," Peter said. ((Forgive me if this isn't even close, it's hard to remember the lines.))  
  
"Pete…what makes you think I'd even care?" Harry asked.  
  
"Who wouldn't?" Peter asked, entirely serious.  
  
Harry shook his head and stopped in front of the display of spiders where the rest of the group was.  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey, hold still," a girl with radiant black hair was instructing someone standing near the genetically enhanced group of spiders. "I need to get your picture for the Echo."  
  
"What's the big deal, they're just spiders? Who would want to read about some stupid spiders, anyway?" her model asked.  
  
"Who wouldn't want to read about spiders? They're the most fascinating creatures ever! Besides, I only need one more picture, and you can go back to goofing off with the rest of your friends," she said, pushing up her glasses before taking the last shot.  
  
A small spider had spun a web above the girl's head, but she had no awareness for this. She took the picture and then stood there, sighing after he left. "Gosh he's cute," she said, not realizing someone was behind her. When she jumped from surprise, the spider whose web was above her landed in her hair. It managed to crawl down to her neck without the girl even realizing it.  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey, can I take your picture, for the school paper?" Peter asked Mary Jane Watson, Peter's one and only love interest. He smiled and motioned to the spiders. "I need one with a student in it."  
  
"Sure. Just don't make me look ugly!" Mary Jane said, adjusting her clothing.  
  
"That's impossible…" Peter said, taking the pictures. He smiled after she left, she would always be his first crush, and his longest one. He kept thinking how terrible it would be if he had to give her up because of stupid Flash Thompson. That's until he saw HER. The black hair, the glasses, even the clothes reminded him of a female version of himself. He slowly walked up to her, making sure not to disturb her photo shoot of the guy she seemed to like as well. It was a pity that the so-called "science nerds" always fall for the most popular and most unattainable people of the school.  
  
"Hey, you must be from Garden City," Peter said, holding out his hand. "I'm Peter Parker," he said, shaking her hand, and then letting go.  
  
"Yes, I've become the official photographer of our school paper," she said. "I'm Melissa Yellowstone."  
  
"Nice to meet you, Melissa. I couldn't help but notice that you seemed…well…intrigued about the spiders," Peter said, scratching his neck.  
  
Melissa blushed and grinned. "Well, yes, I love the little critters. I mean, there are so many species and they each have their own way of catching their prey!"  
  
"Yes, for instance some of them camouflage with their surroundings," Peter said, grinning back. He loved to actually have someone to rattle off information to that actually cared!  
  
"And others can jump across their surroundings," Melissa said. "Wow, I never thought I'd meet someone who loved spiders as much as me!"  
  
"Neither did I…this is great! Finally, I don't have to listen to Harry complaining that he doesn't want to hear about my comments," Peter said, laughing.  
  
"Who's Harry?" Melissa asked, leading Peter to the group of students, with the spider still burrowing through her clothes.  
  
"Harry's my best friend. I'll introduce you to him later. Hey, after this field trip, we should keep in touch!" Peter suggested, whispering.  
  
"Great, I can't wait to meet him!" Melissa said, and then cried out in pain, as the spider just found a comfortable place to lay his fangs in, and bit Melissa's back. Her hand flew to the spot where the spider bit, and Melissa watched as the spider dropped to the ground and crawled somewhere else. She didn't watch to see it crawl near Peter's foot, as she tried to ignore the pain and pay attention through the rest of the field trip.  
  
"Hey, Melissa, this is Harry," Peter said, after the spider display was over and they were allowed to eat lunch outside with the other school. "Harry, this is a girl from Garden City who's just like me. Her name's Melissa."  
  
"Wow…cool…another science nerd, exactly what I need!" Harry joked, sarcastically.  
  
Peter glanced down at his leg, which was starting to swell from the spider bite. Peter took out a piece of paper, trying to ignore the bite, and wrote his phone number and e-mail address down on it. "Here, just give me a call some time, I'd love to hear from you!"  
  
"Here's my info. Gimme a ring or an e-mail," Melissa said, trying to hide the pain she was feeling right now, which was slowly transforming into nausea and dizziness.  
  
"All right, kids, let's get onto the buses. I hope you all learned something today, because you will each hand in an essay on spiders, due one week," the teacher of Peter's class said.  
  
"Well, I guess that's my cue," Peter said. "I'll call you sometime," he said, jogging towards the bus. "Harry, are you coming on the bus?"  
  
"Can't, my dad's picking me up. Are you okay, Pete? You don't look so good?" Harry asked, concerned about his friend.  
  
"I'm fine…just got a bit of a spider bite, that's all," Peter said, almost collapsing onto the ground, if Harry hadn't been there to catch him.  
  
"Maybe my dad should drive you," Harry suggested. "Come on," he said, helping him into the car.  
  
~*~  
  
"Melissa, are you all right?" her mother yelled as she stumbled into the house and up the stairs.  
  
"I'm fine…just feeling a bit woozy, that's all," Melissa said, collapsing onto the bed. She closed her eyes and let herself drift off into a much- needed sleep while her body seemed to transform right before her tightly shut eyes.  
  
"Well, you better rest, I'll call you down when dinner's ready," Melissa's sweet mother said, pulling the covers over her.  
  
"That's okay, mom, I had a bite," Melissa said, and let herself sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
"You don't look so good, Pete, you should get some rest. I'll get you home, but then I need to get back to Oscorp. Harry, you can get your own dinner, right?" Norman Osbourne asked.  
  
"Dad, can you please not go back to Oscorp tonight? Just this once…for me?" Harry pleaded.  
  
Norman looked at his son with intrigue, and shook his head. "I wish I could, son, but I have pressing business matter to attend to. If I don't show up, they might take the company away from me," Norman said, squeezing his hands into fists.  
  
"Well, Pete, I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then. Night," Harry said, as Peter stumbled out of the limo and into his house.  
  
"Peter, is that you?" Aunt May called.  
  
"Gosh, Peter, what happened?" Uncle Ben asked after seeing Peter's seemingly drunken steps up the stairs.  
  
"Just feeling a bit sick, that's all," Peter said. "I'm gonna go off to bed."  
  
"Well, do you want to grab a bite before you sleep?" Aunt May asked.  
  
"Nah, I got one," Peter said, and he quickly stripped his shirt off and didn't quite make it to the bed. Slipping off to the side, he grabbed a blanket and pulled it over himself, trying to sleep on the floor.  
  
~*~  
  
Peter narrating  
  
And so it began, my life as an extraordinary superhero, a superman if you please. I would be tested time and again, to see if my strength and newfound abilities were tough enough to defend against the toughest of villains.  
  
End: Chapter 1 


	2. ii: weird

Title: Tangled Webs  
  
Author: Sparkling Diamond Satine  
  
Summary and disclaimer are in Chapter 1, as well as a short warning.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Note: Thanks Lucky aka Jessica-Canada/OGM for pointing out my error, I fixed it and already my story looks better hehe! ((By the way, it was just the mistake of typing too fast…it happens sometimes, can't catch every error!  
  
Note 2: Dark Jedi Princess, yes Peter did graduate from high school, but I decided to change the movie/comic/cartoon version to create an alternate universe where Peter got expelled after the fight.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 2~Weird  
  
Peter narrating  
  
This is when things started to get really weird. I wake up and immediately find everything's changed. Nothing in my life would remain the same, not even good old MJ. But, luckily I would be given a chance to show that I'm not the nerd everybody thought I was.  
  
~*~  
  
Peter woke up and observed his surroundings through half-open eyes. He noticed that his room appeared blurry, so he swung his hand up to search for the pair of glasses that he left on his dresser the night before. When he triumphantly placed them on his nose, he was surprised to find that his whole world looked even blurrier than before, so he tried taking them off and putting them back on to hopefully correct the problem.  
  
"That's weird…" Peter mumbled, and stopped in front of the mirror when something didn't seem right. He examined his newly developed muscles. The fact that he even had muscles was strange, for he had never worked out in gym before in his life.  
  
"Peter, are you all right?" Aunt May asked.  
  
"I'm…fine!" Peter said, flexing his biceps. He grinned at his newfound strength and grabbed a random shirt that was lying in his dresser.  
  
He hopped down the stairs with ease, and even kicked off the wall that changes the directions the stairs are heading in.  
  
"Peter, I thought you were sick!" Aunt May said, just as surprised as Peter was.  
  
"I got better!" Peter said, enthusiastically. He grabbed something to eat and some money for lunch and then gave both his loving aunt and kindly uncle a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tonight."  
  
"Don't forget, Michelangelo, we're painting the kitchen tonight," Uncle Ben said, smiling.  
  
"Don't start without me!" Peter said, laughing.  
  
"And don't start with me!" Uncle Ben said before Peter ran out the door to catch the bus.  
  
Before Peter could even make his way towards the bus stop, he overheard some arguing going on next-door over at the Watson residence. It seemed that Mary Jane's father was finding something wrong with the way Mary Jane dressed and was yelling for some booze.  
  
"I've got to go to school, daddy!" Mary Jane said, urgently, wishing she could live somewhere else.  
  
Mary Jane hurried out of her house, and proceeded to walk in front of Peter. She seemed lost in thought, so Peter practiced what he would say when they ended up getting to the bus stop later.  
  
But they never made it to the bus stop, for Mary Jane jumped into her friends' car and rode to school with them. Peter sulked for a few minutes, until the bus sped away in front of him. He ran as fast as he could and started banging on the walls of the bus, until his hand caught on the banner, showing off the name of the school mascot, the Wildcats. He found that the paper stuck to his hand and flew off the bus, so he slowed down to examine this phenomenon.  
  
For the billionth time that morning, he said, "Weird," and continued on with his life. He never once stopped to think that perhaps it was the spider that had bitten him yesterday that caused all this unneeded changes in his life.  
  
When he got to school, which was later than usual, because he walked instead of ran after the bus until it stopped, he went to find Harry to tell him about all the strange happenings of the day. Unfortunately, he couldn't find Harry, and went straight to first period.  
  
Nothing unusual happened until lunch, where he sat eating lunch, alone as usual, and felt a strange sensation when Mary Jane walked by. He actually foresaw something bad happening to her. Seconds later, she slipped. He spun around and quickly caught her. He also managed to place his tray gracefully underneath all the accelerating food items that used to lie on her tray.  
  
"Wow…great reflexes!" Mary Jane said, enthusiastically.  
  
"Thanks," Peter said, seemingly speechless at what just happened.  
  
"Hey, you have blue eyes…I never noticed with your glasses on. Did you get contacts?" Mary Jane asked a quiet, blue-eyed, quick-as-a-cat boy who was enthralled with the idea of holding Mary Jane in his arms for eternity.  
  
Peter just smiled; he wanted nothing more than to sit at the lunch table and hold Mary Jane in this embrace. He noticed Mary Jane look at him strangely and excuse herself from this awkward moment.  
  
Peter leaned his hand on his lunch tray, and then lifted it up moments later. He looked for his fork, to dig for the food within the dreaded inedible school food, but it seemed to be missing from his tray. He then proceeded to look at his hand, and gasped. Lying there, for no apparent reason except that it was stuck for almost the same reason that the banner was earlier, except this time, when he pulled the fork off, he found that there was a giant spider's web coming out of his wrist and attached to the fork.  
  
Once again, the one word that seemed to describe everything that day was voiced. "Weird." Peter tried to rip the webbing off, but in the process, his middle and ring finger went down and triggered a new web to shoot out and stick onto another lunch tray.  
  
He looked around to see if anyone noticed this taking place, and was dismayed when everyone was still talking, oblivious to what had just happened. With one flick of the rest, the lunch try flew across the room and hit Flash Thompson, who was happy enough without food all over his clothes.  
  
"Who did this?" Flash asked, enraged.  
  
Peter, seeing this as a good time to leave, quickly made his way toward the doors. It was too bad that he left a quite obvious trail, being that the tray was still stuck to the webbing shot out of his wrist.  
  
"Freak…" Flash mumbled as Peter walked out the door and noticed that his tray was stuck outside, so he flung it out through the doorway.  
  
Flash caught up with Peter, and tried to connect his fist with Peter's head, but missed completely after Peter sensed the hand flying towards him and dodged it.  
  
A useless fight broke out, and was met with irritability by certain teachers, whose classes were disrupted. In fact, once Peter successfully won the fight, the principal called him down to the office and waited for the moment when he took pride in saying the two words that could make any grown man cry. "You're expelled."  
  
Peter gaped the entire walk home. With him expelled, he would be unable to see Mary Jane every day at lunch and in physics. He would also be labeled with the "smart guy who fought his way out of school." Most of all, his aunt and uncle would be disappointed with him.  
  
"What am I gonna tell Aunt May??" Peter kept thinking.  
  
Peter narrating  
  
Weird, isn't it? How everything can change in the snap of a finger, in a jiffy, in a flash. Now I must face certain inevitable doom in the form of letting my aunt and uncle down. There is only one thing standing between my switching schools. I would normally be fine with the whole idea, but if it weren't for MJ, Harry, and the rest of the people who are in my life, I would in fact not mind moving if I had to.  
  
~*~  
  
End: Chapter 2 


	3. iii: moving time

Title: Tangled Webs  
  
Author: Sparkling Diamond Satine  
  
Summary and disclaimer are in Chapter 1, as well as a short warning.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Note: Thanks to all of my reviewers for chapters 1 & 2 (capfaced, Emily Hanson, Lucky aka Jessica-Canada/OGM, wicked angel, and Dark Jedi Princess)  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 3~Moving Time  
  
Peter narrating  
  
Talking to my aunt and uncle was the most difficult time of my life. I don't know where I found the strength, but I think they were okay with the idea. They replied in a controlled, less irritated tone then most parents might. Plus, they sounded supportive and offered me a choice of moving onto Long Island, as they could easily obtain a house with our friends. Little did I know what I was getting myself into with this.  
  
~*~  
  
Peter walked up into his room to grab the last of the boxes full of his science experiments. When he thought about this big move, the first thing that popped into his mind was the girl from Garden City. 'If only we could get a house there…' he thought.  
  
He practically flew down the stairs when he heard the doorbell ring. He threw down the box, thinking, 'I hope there was nothing too fragile in there,' and opened the door to reveal a very sad-looking Mary Jane.  
  
"I heard you're leaving us, tiger," she said.  
  
Tiger. The mention of that pet name made Peter almost hate leaving the city, but he knew that he would be unhappy living next-door to MJ but not going to school with her.  
  
"Unfortunately, it's true. I got expelled because for some reason the principle hates me and I happened to knock Flash right into his lunch. But I promise, MJ, I will send you e-mail every day and make sure you're having as bad a time as I am," Peter said.  
  
Mary Jane Watson took Peter's hand one last time and, grinning, held it in her hand. She gazed into his eyes as if she were looking at Flash, and then placed a kiss on the back of it. "I will miss you so much, Pete," she said, tears in her eyes.  
  
Peter, unsure of what to do now, only knew exactly what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, with MJ taken, all he could do was squeeze her hand tightly, which led to a great big bear hug. Each wished Peter could stay, but both knew it was impossible now, with everything loaded in a truck.  
  
"MJ, I will miss you terribly," he said, picking up his box of science experiments. He walked out the door and was halfway to the car they would day when he turned around and blew Mary Jane a kiss. "Bye…" He hesitantly walked the rest of the way to the car and hopped inside.  
  
Before they could leave, Harry drove up in his father's limo. He looked heart-broken as to the events taking place. Peter hopped back out of the car to confront his best friend.  
  
"I thought I would get kicked out, Pete, not you…" Harry said. "I never thought you'd start taking after me now…"  
  
"Stop that, Harry…you know it wasn't my fault. Well I guess this means that you'll have to find someone else to room with in the city…"  
  
"Hey, I saved you another article. They have something on this chick superhero who's been saving that town you're going to from that Red Robin," Harry said. "They call her…" he paused for dramatic effect, and waved his hand across the air, looking out into the city as if there was anything to be seen. "Arachnida."  
  
"Arachnida…why Arachnida?" Peter asked. "And what's with this new obsession with superheroes in Garden City?"  
  
"Well, I'm not sure why they call her Arachnida…but she apparently has spider powers. And, I'm just looking out for you, man, that's all. Keeping you updated on what's happening in your new hometown."  
  
Peter was intrigued by the thought of Arachnida. 'Spider powers, huh? I wonder if they're anything like mine…' he thought, thinking about what had happened at lunch yesterday. "Well, man, I guess I'll talk to you online…I'll…miss you," he said, stumbling over his words. Leaving his best friend for countless years was the hardest thing about moving, but he hoped he could visit soon. He just hoped he would see Harry Osbourne and Mary Jane Watson again.  
  
"Bye, Pete," Harry said, and trying to look as manly as possible, took Peter in the arms and gave a pat on the back. "I'll miss having you around to help with homework."  
  
Peter laughed at this and said, "You can always call if you need help, and you've got our number at the new place in Garden City."  
  
"Tell me if there are any cute chicks at the high school, I want to know everything!" Harry said.  
  
Peter laughed and waved before he jumped in the car once more. The sound of the motor turning on caused Peter's final realization that he wasn't living in the city anymore.  
  
The little car, driven by Uncle Ben, peeled away from the curb and into the polluted streets of New York City. He passed by a bridge (which I would say the name of if I could remember it) and took pictures so that he could send them to Harry. He didn't know why he wanted a picture of the bridge; it just seemed to call out to him, which was kind of like that girl seemed to be calling out to him by somehow making him get expelled. Of course it was an unrealistic thought, but Peter wasn't thinking rationally now. He shouldn't be thinking rationally after the incident at the cafeteria.  
  
The car made its way out of the urban and into the suburban part of New York. Even the simple atmosphere made him cringe at the thought of having to live there. The streets just seemed to scream superficiality.  
  
"Here we are!" Aunt May said, excitedly. It was a small, affordable house, just right for their family, and it was near the Roosevelt Field Mall, which would be more convenient, had Peter liked shopping. But Peter didn't like shopping, yet he would end up finding himself there on the weekends with nothing to do.  
  
Peter laid his head on the pillow and thought of everything that happened in the past week. It overwhelmed him, and he found that sleeping wasn't a difficult thing to do.  
  
~*~  
  
Peter narrating  
  
Garden City. It isn't that bad a place; of course it has its pros and cons. The cons? Well, for one thing, it comprises of mostly jocks and J. Crew model type girls. I fall into the category of "nerds" which hasn't changed from my old school anyway. As for the pros, there is only one that makes living in the good old "bubble" worthwhile. You may find yourself wondering what this pro is. Well that, my friend, is another chapter in the story of my extraordinary life.  
  
~*~  
  
End: Chapter 3 


	4. iv: the girl next-door

Title: Tangled Webs  
  
Author: Sparkling Diamond Satine  
  
Summary and disclaimer are in Chapter 1, as well as a short warning.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Note: Thanks for reviewing again DJP, and Alc.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 4~The Girl Next-Door  
  
Peter narrating  
  
The girl next-door, that's who changed my life completely, who made missing Mary Jane okay. It wasn't like I was replacing MJ, but I needed someone who had the same tastes as me to talk to. That girl happened to be the one who I met at the Columbian University field trip.  
  
~*~  
  
Peter walked into his new house and up to what would later become his room. It would look much the same as his old room in the apartment in New York City. For now, it was just a big void filled with boxes and a mattress.  
  
"How am I supposed to sleep in here, Aunt May? There's no frame or anything!" Peter complained.  
  
"Don't worry, there will be a frame in your room by tonight. You have school tomorrow; don't forget. Oh, and there's a girl next-door who says she wants to meet you. Her name is…Marissa I think?" Aunt May said.  
  
Peter's eyes lit up at the mention of the name. "Melissa? Could it be…?" he said under his breath so Aunt May wouldn't hear. He ran down the stairs and flew towards the house to the left of his.  
  
Aunt May chuckled as Peter ran out to meet the girl who wanted to meet him. She knew that he had forgotten all about Mary Jane as soon as Melissa's name was mentioned.  
  
As soon as Peter saw Melissa's face, he knew immediately that it was the girl he saw at Colombia University. But when his eyes traced the rest of her body, he was in complete shock. She looked very much different, and was wearing a low-cut shirt and tight pants.  
  
"Wow…Melissa, is that you?" Peter asked. "You look…different!"  
  
Melissa laughed and nodded her head. "You don't look too bad, yourself, kid. In fact, you look a lot different since I last saw you…two days, was it?"  
  
Peter nodded. "Yes, it was two days. Strange things have been happening to me…talking about strange things, I have an article on…Arachnida? She seems to be the new semi-popular superhero in town."  
  
"Ah yes, Arachnida. She's a great character. I, for one, have been collecting what the public has to say," Melissa said.  
  
"From what I've read, she really is cool. I wish I could meet her, though, for a lot of what the public writes isn't true," Peter said.  
  
"Hey, want to take a walk? There's a really nice park nearby, and I could use the fresh air," Melissa said, already making her way towards it.  
  
Peter smiled and followed her. "That would be nice. I haven't gone on swings in a while…without seeing the apartment buildings, of course."  
  
Melissa laughed. "Well, then we'll spend some time on the swings. And if there are little kids on them already, we'll just scare them off."  
  
Peter laughed with her. "Yeah, I guess we'll have to, because I'm not leaving until we go on the swings!" He saw the park ahead of them and gasped. It was very beautiful, yet small enough that it wouldn't be filled with too many rambunctious toddlers. Plus, one didn't see the towering skyscrapers in the backdrop.  
  
Melissa smirked. "Hey, if you like this, wait 'till you see the better parks. This one's just the park next to my house."  
  
Peter felt his spider sense start tingling, and didn't know what the sensation was all about yet. He figured that it had something to do with the precognition that some spiders seemed to possess. He looked around to see what was causing it, but found nothing.  
  
"Peter…you go on the swings, there's something I need to do," Melissa said, running towards the bathroom. She quickly stripped out of her clothing and into a black suit with a single spider web design on her chest and back, and little white spiders "crawling" all over her arms and legs. She had a mask to go with it, and quickly pulled it over her head, and pulled the ponytail out the hole in the back.  
  
Peter watched as the girl known as Arachnida ran out into the park. He spun around to notice a masked man almost punch him, but not before Peter could successfully block it. The man pulled out a gun and held it to his head. "Oh God…" Peter whispered.  
  
"PETER!" Arachnida yelled, and did a few acrobatic moves, some handsprings and flips, and knocked out the man before he could even think about pulling the trigger.  
  
"H-how do you know my name?" Peter asked.  
  
Arachnida smirked inside her mask, thinking 'Wouldn't you like to know?' Instead, she said, "You know who I am. I'm just your average superhero with badass spider powers. Just call me Arachnida!" she said, before extending her webbing and swinging to the top of the park storage building.  
  
Peter watched her swing away, and sighed. He walked over to the swings, wondering what happened to Melissa. "Guess I just met Arachnida…" He found his heart was tearing between two different people: a regular girl, and a superhero. When he looked down at his wrist, which had just expelled some webbing very much like the kind Arachnida put out. "Could it be possible?? Naaah…." Peter said to himself, swinging across the park. Melissa ran quickly back to the swings and took the one next to Peter.  
  
"Sorry about that, just needed to check up on my little brother. I had forgotten that my parents were going out. He's okay, though, so I'm trusting that he'll be fine for the next ten minutes," Melissa said, smiling.  
  
Peter took the rest of the quickly ending night to playfully flirt with the girl who now seemed to take up most of Peter's heart. But he thought that should he encounter Arachnida again, he might not be able to resist her. The sight of that superhero reminded him that he should find a way to tame his super powers. He also thought of perhaps joining Arachnida in fighting crime…that seemed to be a worthwhile commitment in this town, since there wasn't much else to do.  
  
~*~  
  
Peter narrating  
  
Arachnida and Melissa. Two terribly interesting girls, two people who shall forever dwell within a piece of my life. It will take years for me to decide what to do about this predicament, but why wait years when I can just tell the story in minutes? Besides, my story is not that interesting at points. 


End file.
